Open Up to Me (Marauders era)
by WeasleySlave
Summary: Hey there people! This is my first fanfic... ever so I'm new to all of this, but I hope you can still give me a shot. Read as my character, Andy meets the marauders yet avoids them for whatever reason she has. Note that I suck at beginnings! :)
1. First Time

"...and then he told me I looked nice and then I said he looked even nicer and then he just….kissed me!" A girl was telling them all about her first kiss in an extremely annoying voice. Her and her friends all burst into high-pitched squeals of joy.

Andy's ears began to buzz. She rubbed them in annoyance, she wanted them to shut up so bad. When would this bloody train ride end?!

"...and then he just left?" one of the other girls asked.

"Yeah," she replied, "But before he walked away he told me he loved me and the funny thing is, I think I love him too…."

Good grief! These girls don't even know what love is yet, what did they say they were? Third years!

"...well I don't know but he should have at least…"

Andy glanced impatiently out the window, they didn't look anywhere near the school yet. Maybe she should just leave. Yeah, that sounded like a idea. She stood up, "I'm gonna go change." she announced quietly, reaching for her trunk which was on the luggage rack above her head.

"Already!" exclaimed one of the girls, turning away from the conversation. "We still have a long time before we-"

"Yeah but I take _really _long." she countered, hauling her trunk out into the hallway and sliding the door shut before any of them could say another word.

She let out a sigh of relief, Merlin those girls were annoying. She started down the passageway, pulling her trunk behind her.

After she had changed she thought it best to lounge out in the hallway than to go through the trouble of having to go around asking others if she could sit with them. She really didn't like talking to other people, which made her wonder why she was put into Gryffindor. Gryffindors were usually loud and talkative and brave and all of that stuff_._ Andy was none of that. Heck! she didn't even have friends and she was in her fifth year.

Time was going by slowly and so to ease her boredom she took out a book and began to read. She was enjoying the sweet silence of the hallway being able to give her full attention to what was happening in the book. Everything was just so much more tranquil when she was alone. No ear-piercing shrieks to drive her up the wall. Just her and her thoughts. Her sweet blissful thou-

_Bam! _

Andy jumped at the sudden noise, _Well that was quick_. She looked up from her book irritatedly and searched for the source of the noise and saw a livid Sirius Black emerging from one of the compartments and then slamming the door shut angrily, once again causing Andy to jump.

She stared as he was passing by but was surprised when he stopped abruptly to glare at her furiously, "What the FUCK are _you _staring at!?" he exclaimed. She dropped her book in surprise, jerking backwards a little. And before she could say anything, he continued angrily down the hall, leaving Andy to gaze incredulously after him as he disappeared into another compartment.

She picked up her book and began to read. Trying to forget what had just happened.

She had never seen Sirius so angry, especially towards her. He had never talked to her before let alone shout. He probably didn't know she existed until a few moments ago. But then again, who did? You don't have to be as popular as Sirius Black to treat Andy as though she doesn't exist.


	2. Buzzing Ears

_A/N: I forgot to do the disclaimer thingy for the last chapter!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own the awesome world of Harry Potter,**

**JK. Rowling owns that. But I do own Andy, and how awesome is she?**

Andy sat down at the Gryffindor table and took out her book, ignoring everyone around her. Or at least, trying to ignore everyone. Students were running all over the place, greeting their friends, laughing, talking, all the things Andy hated doing.

"Umm..can we sit here?" A girl interrupted her. She glimpsed up at the two girls standing beside her and nodded.

They both seated themselves opposite her, and started up a conversation. It was starting to get very hard for Andy to concentrate. Her ears began to buzz like they did in the train.

She drummed her fingers on the table. It was like people did this to her on purpose. Maybe it would be better if she sat somewhere else.

She scanned the table, there were no empty spots, only at the end of the table, but that spot was for the new first years. What could she do now? Should she just leave? Nah, that would be kind of rude and there was no way she was going to bed with an empty stomach. There was no getting out of this one, she'd just have to deal with it this time.

"...told him we were over and then he just stormed out of the compartment." One of the girls was saying.

"So he didn't take it well then?" asked the other one.

Andy's attempts to ignore them were getting increasingly difficult.

"Well duh." The girl replied shooting her friend a dull look. "I even heard him yelling at someone for staring at him or something like that."

She gave an ear-piercing screech of laughter.

Andy had a tight grip on her book. She was resisting the urge to hit the girl across the face with it.

"You're so evil." said her friend amusedly.

"What?" said the girl defensively, "It's funny!"

"Really, it's not that funny." said her friend, her smile fading, "And I was talking about how you just broke up with Sirius like that."

"Oh, he'll get over it, besides, I've been told I could do _much _better."

Andy snorted out loud, and as soon as she realised it she quickly tried to turn it into a cough. But she was unsuccessful.

The girl turned to look at her angrily, "Find that funny do you?"

Just then, the doors to the entrance hall opened. The girl turned to see and Andy was saved. Professor McGonagall, followed by a long line of first years, entered. She was carrying a stool on which sat an old, ancient-looking, wizard's hat.

Silence fell over all the students as the first years lined up in front of the staff table. Professor McGonagall set the stool down in front of them and stood back.

A few seconds passed before the sorting hat on the stool burst into song:

_The founders of our noble school_

_So clever the four were,_

_They came together…._

_Yada yada yada._

Andy always thought the sorting hat's songs were boring. They always said the same thing, just in different words.

The four founders of Hogwarts united because they had the same goals which were to make the world's best magic school. And how their friendship failed when they each wanted things to go their way. And so to settle things they separated into four houses and took only the students they each wanted. Slytherin the purebloods; Ravenclaw the sharp ones; Gryffindor the brave ones; and Hufflepuff just took the rest.

Andy knew it all already. So she just ignored the whole thing and read. She just wanted to eat and get to bed already.

_"__Hufflepuff!"_

Shouted the hat finally as the short, curly-haired boy ran to the Hufflepuff table.

Andy happily looked up from her book as everyone applauded and Professor McGonagall took the stool and hat out of the hall.

Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet, "Welcome students to another year here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now before we-" the entrance hall doors had slammed open and Filch came in clutching the shoulders of two boys, pulling them furiously behind him.

When they reached Professor Dumbledore, Filch whispered something in his ear, nodding at the two boys. Dumbledore whispered something back and then calmly turned back to the students.

"Well now," said Dumbledore in a casual tone as Filch marched them away, "I was saying… before we begin our feast I…"

Andy wasn't paying attention, she was watching Filch as he passed by with the boys. She recognised them from her Herbology class. They were in Hufflepuff and they were quite the trouble makers.

Andy wondered what they got themselves into this time. But of course, it wasn't any of her business. And anyways the whole school will probably know what they did by tomorrow. She could just hear it from someone else.

"...the feast begin!" Dumbledore finished. Andy watched as food appeared out of nowhere on the golden plates at each table.

Andy put a few things on the plate in front of her and began to eat. When she finished, she began reading again. Or at least, tried to read. The hall was so loud she had to keep rereading the same paragraph over and over.

She needed to get ear plugs or something. She could only handle so much noise.

When Dumbledore gave word that it was time for bed, she sprung up from her seat and wove her way through the crowd in the entrance hall. But just as she made it to the marble staircase someone grabbed her by the wrist….

_A/N: Yeah I know. This chapter kind of sucked, but I am no professional. I'm just trying this out, even though I suck at writing. But aren't you curious to find out who grabbed Andy's wrist?_


	3. Overwhelming

…..Andy turned around, surprised.

The annoying third years from the train were standing there, and they didn't look too happy. Andy glanced at the ties wrapped around their necks, they were emblazoned with green and silver stripes. Oh great! They were in Slytherin.

"Hi." said the girl holding her wrist. Andy didn't say anything. What did they want?

"We never properly introduced ourselves." She continued. "I'm Cressida, this is Amelia, Dorema, and Erlinda.

"Hi." Andy fought the urge to cringe, those were the worst names she had ever heard.

"No need to look so scared," laughed one of the girls, but she didn't sound very amused. "It's not like we're going to bite you or anything. We just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"A-about?" Andy asked nervously. Oh, this didn't sound good.

"_About _you leaving the compartment and not coming back." said the girl named Cressida, flinging her wrist aside. "Where did you run off too?"

Andy's eyes opened wide. What could she say? "Oh, I-I….." _I what! Come on think! _Andy was under a lost of pressure here. These girls were all staring at her with huge frowns. " ..I r-ran into one of my f-friends, so I stayed wu-with her."

"Did you get off the train with her?" asked the girl with black hair named Amelia.

"Y-yeah?" But it sounded more of a question than an answer. Oh how much she hated her stupid stutter.

"Liar!" said Cressida. "We saw you get off the train _alone-"_

"And you sure as hell weren't sitting with anyone out in that hallway when you were reading you're little book." added the girl named Dorema.

Andy's eyes got even wider, if possible. Had these girls been watching her the entire time? What should she do now? Run? Or was it even necessary because we're talking about _third years. _Meaning that they were much shorter than Andy. She looked up the marble staircase, it was completely deserted. This meant that she had a clear path and a good chance of getting away if she decided to bolt. But no, she couldn't make herself an even bigger coward than she already is. She had to learn how to stand up to people.

Maybe she should take out her wand, that would probably scare them. But now that Andy thought about it, where was her wand? She didn't take it out in the train or, looking back, she didn't remember even having it in the car ride to King's Cross. She pressed a hand over the inside pocket of her robe. This was a big problem-

"Hello?" Cressida was waving a hand in front of Andy's face. "Don't play dumb. You've got some explaining to do."

"E-explaining?" she asked only half paying attention. She was too focused on where her wand could be.

"Yeah. We want to know why you left the compartment. Do you not like us or something? Because let me tell you, you do not want us as your enemies." warned the girl named Erlinda.

Andy wasn't paying attention at all this time. She was too busy groping her hand through her inside pocket.

"What do you keep sticking your hand in your pocket for?!" Cressida snapped furiously. "Do you want to duel or something because we can duel right here!" she pushed Andy back so that she fell to the ground.

"Go on bring it out then!" shouted Amelia.

"What's going on here?!" came the angry shouts of a girl who was storming out of the Great Hall. Andy turned her head towards her in surprise, _Where did she come from!?_

"What do you care, Evans?" Cressida scowled at the redhead.  
"Yeah, who told you it was any of your business?" snapped Amelia.

"_I_ happen to be a prefect," she said matter-of-factly. "One who is given the authority to-"

"We know what a prefect is!."

"I was merely answering your question." she said, "Just like _you _should be answering mine. _What's going on here?_" she repeated.

"Nothing!" shouted Amelia. "We were just making our way to the Slytherin common room when _she-" _she gestured a hand towards Andy "-decided to started insulting us. Do you expect us to just let her do that?" The rest of the girls just nodded.

Andy looked at her incredulously. How could she lie like that? Well...she _was _in Slytherin.

"Is that true?" asked the redhead, turning her head towards Andy, who shook her head furiously in response.

"Well that settles it," she said, "you're all lying." She accused.

"-What?!"

"How could you just believe her like that-"

"Yeah! Maybe she's the one that's lying!"

"Well, _she _happens to be the one on the floor."

"_Because_ she insulted us-" Cressida raised her voice.

"In what way?"

Her face fell. "Umm… She-"

"That's what I thought." smirked the redhead. "Ten points from Slytherin for each of you. Now off to your dorms."

They began some kind of movement to leave, but Amelia stomped her foot down making them all stop. "But what about her!" she pointed at Andy.

"What about her?" asked the prefect, with a raised brow. "She didn't do anything and even if she did you can't prove it. Plus I've never had a problem with her and she's been here longer than all of you."

"Well that's because you probably don't even know who she is. She's a big nobody with no friends."

Andy looked at her knees. It was true, she didn't have any friends and she was definitely a nobody. She had no one. She fought back the tears that were threatening to form in her eyes.

"And you said _she _was the one insulting you. Five more points from Slytherin. Now leave."

Amelia looked like she wanted to say something else but she just turned away defeatedly and walked off. Cressida right beside her and the other two girls following.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked once they were gone. She held out a hand to help her up.

"Yeah I'm fine." Andy replied as the girl helped lift her to her feet. "Thanks for getting rid of them."

"No problem." she said as she began walking up the marble steps and pausing expectantly for Andy to follow. And as she did, she added, "I believed you from the beginning you know, those girl are always causing some kind of drama. "

Andy didn't say anything, she just kept walking.

"You don't say much do you?" the girl asked after a long silence. "You didn't say anything the whole time I was there."

Andy shook her head.

There was another long silence. "I'm Lily by the way, Lily Evans."

"I'm Alexandra Derby, but most people I talk to call me Andy for short." Andy looked down at her feet, not that she talked to many people.

"Well alright then Andy, I was kind of wondering, what were those girls bullying you about?" she asked seriously, looking Andy in the eyes.

Andy gulped, should she tell her? It would probably make her look stupid. And it really wasn't any of Lily's business. But she couldn't tell her that, it would be rude.

"W-well, it sort of started in the train." she began, " I-I w-was sharing a compartment w-with them and I got a-a little annoyed w-with all of them. S-so I told them I w-wu-was going to go change and I didn't come back. S-so they came to me and asked w-where I had gone." she grinned a little. "They thought had gotten jealous about one of them having a boyfriend or something like that."

Lily laughed, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Andy's eyes widened in realization.

"Sorry," said Lily once she saw her, "I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at-"

"I know," said Andy, "I w-was just s-surprised." she bashfully looked down at her feet again as they reached the top of the stairs and turned left up to climb up another set. Now Lily would probably ask why she was surprised and she'd have to explain how that was the most she had ever talked in a long time. It was a very overwhelming feeling. But luckily, Lily didn't ask, she just stayed quiet.

They were finally climbing through the portrait hole when Lily said, "If you ever need me for anything just find me."

Andy just nodded as they reached the girls dormitory stairs.

"And you ought to really talk more you know," Lily said as they reached the fifth years door. Andy wondered fleetingly if Lily was annoyed. She definitely sounded a little desperate. "I'll see you tomorrow." she said as she climbed the stairs further and Andy walked into her dorm.

She closed the door behind her. Not knowing whether to be happy or not at Lily's final words: _I'll see you tomorrow._ It was definitely a statement and not a question, did that mean they would start _'hanging out.'_ Because she wasn't sure she wanted to hang out with anyone. She kind of liked her quiet life, a lot less drama.

But she did feel kind of lonely sometimes. Maybe it would be good for her. But then again, Lily could've meant _see you tomorrow _as in _see you around. _So she shouldn't get her hopes up or anything. Besides Lily would most likely just ignore her for the rest of her life. Even if they were to get to know each other.

Andy walked over to her trunk and opened it furiously. Oh just look at her, already thinking all this nonsense and she doesn't even really know Lily. It'd be better if she just stayed away from her now, she didn't want to get hurt ever again.


	4. My Poor Bum

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

It was the first day of classes, and students were drowsily eating breakfast in the Great Hall. Andy was seated at the Gryffindor table. But she was mostly there just to get her schedule. She was too worried about where her wand could be to eat. She didn't remember having it in the car or in the train. That could only mean she left it at home. That has to be the dumbest thing a witch or wizard could do.  
Hopefully she won't need a wand for any of her classes today since it's the first day. How would she explain to one of her professors that she didn't know where it was? She'd get detention for sure. One thing that she has tried her best to avoid all these years. She couldn't even imagine, if she were to ever get a detention she would probably burst out in tears. She felt like crying just thinking about it.  
"Miss Derby, correct?" Andy looked up from her agonizing thoughts at professor McGonagall. She nodded and the professor handed her her schedule and continued to the next student.  
She scanned the paper in front of her. She had History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense Against the Dark Arts. Well at least she didn't have Transfiguration; professor McGonagall would certainly kill her for not having her wand.  
She stuffed her schedule in her bag and made her way through the entrance hall. On her way to the History of Magic classroom her missing wand wound it's way into her thoughts again. She really hoped that it was at home, if it weren't she didn't know where else it could be. The only problem was, if it was there, how was she going to get it. Maybe she could send her sister a letter.  
She came to a halt in front of the History of Magic classroom and leaned against the wall behind her. Maybe she could send the letter now. She checked her watch, she still had a good half hour until the bell rang. That seemed like enough time to make it to the owlery and back.  
She walked down the corridor and began climbing a set of stairs that would lead her to the West Tower. As she walked she dug her hands in her bag searching for parchment and a quill.  
Once she arrived at the owlery, she searched through her bag some more and brought out her ink bottle. After dipping the tip of her quill in the bottle she set it down on the ground and began to write, holding the parchment against the was nearly done when the door suddenly slammed open.  
Andy nearly jumped out of her skin. Until she realised it was the redhead from last night, Lily. And she had a friend with her about her age. She had short, curly locks of blonde hair and she seemed to be a little shorter than Lily. It was hard to tell, they were both bending over, clutching at their chests and were breathing heavily.  
They didn't seem to have noticed Andy yet. They looked at each other after shutting the door and then shared hearty laughs. All the while Andy just stood there, afraid to say something. She took a step back but tripped over something that was lying on the floor; her ink bottle.  
Ink spilled all over the floor as both of the girls screamed.  
Andy whimpered from the painful contact her back made with the ground. She slowly sat up; slightly wincing and full of regret for putting the ink bottle on the ground. She did the stupidest  
things.  
She looked up at the two girls standing there in shock with their hands held over their mouths. Lily's slid down to her heart.  
"Andy!" she said, startled. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
"You know her?" her blonde friend asked. She sounded a lot more calm than she looked. She had a look of pure shock.  
"Yeah, bit of a long story." said Lily helping Andy to her feet. "I'll explain later." she added. She then turned to Andy, "Andy this is my best friend Marlene, Marlene this is Andy."  
"Andy?" said Marlene curiously. Andy didn't blame her. It was kind of a weird name for a girl.  
"S-short for Alexandra." she explained, looking shyly down at her at her feet.  
"Oh," replied Marlene, "That makes sense."  
There was a small, awkward silence."So what are you doing up here?" Lily asked conversationally.  
Andy stopped herself from shooting Lily an odd look: why did it look like she was doing?  
"I-I was just going to send a letter." she explained, holding up the letter in her hand for them to see.  
"To whom?" asked Marlene. Andy narrowed her eyes; do these people tend to get into other people's business often? She didn't want to end up explaining to them that she left her wand at home. "Alright alright," said Marlene holding up her hands, "You don't have to tell me. Just trying to start up conversation."  
Andy frowned at her feet; she felt her cheeks going red. She saw them faintly exchange curious looks. Had she looked threatening to them. She didn't want them to not like her or think she was rude. She tried to read the time on her watch without lifting her wrist. She didn't want it to seem like she desperately wanted to leave, even though she did. She almost jumped, only about ten minutes left until class.  
"I-I'm gonna finish this." she said once more lifting the letter in her hand as the girls nodded. She picked up her quill off the ground, scribbled a few more things, and then quickly attached it to one of the owls.  
She put her quill in her bag, and started for the door. She stopped in front of the two girls, "I-I better get to class." she said. Once she reached to door Lily said, "But it's so early."  
"Only five minutes left." Andy exclaimed. It was early about twenty minutes ago.  
"Blimey!" Lily replied disbelievingly. "We should get moving as well Marlene." Andy could tell she was the rule-abiding one.  
"Lils," Marlene rolled her eyes, "that's plenty of time."  
"No it's not!"  
"Well do you want that maniac-"  
"I'd better go!" exclaimed Andy. She opened the door before they could say anything and stormed down the hall and down some staircases. She checked her watch again, three minutes! She'd be late for sure. Oh, she should've just waited until lunch to send the letter. Why was she so-  
She had crashed into a tall figure and fallen on the ground, her bag falling on the floor and all of her belongings spilled all over the place. She winced a little from the pain at her bum. Why did she have to keep falling? The person she had crashed into started to shout apologies at her. She looked up to see who it was...


	5. Never Before

…..James Potter stood before her with his hand outstretched for her to take. He pulled her to her feet, all the while apologizing.

"...didn't see you and I-"

"It's alright." Andy cut him off in a quiet voice. "I-it was partly my fault. I-I wu-wasn't paying attention." He looked at her curiously. Why did people keep doing that? She bent down to get her things together; James squatted down to help.

"So um… where are you headed to in such a hurry?" he asked after a long silence.

"Class." Andy replied dully. Where else would she be going?

"Right, that was a stupid question." he smiled sheepishly massaging the back of his head. "I was looking for someone. Lily Evans do you know her?" he asked, putting things one at a time in Andy's bag.

Andy nodded.

"You haven't, by any chance, seen her have you?" he asked hopefully. "I was sort of going after her and her friend but I lost sight of them." he explained.

Andy remembered how Lily and her friend Marlene ran into the owleryl. Would she get mad if she told James where she was? She always seemed to hate him. But what would she know, she was always just in the shadows. She looked him in the eyes, she couldn't lie.

She nodded. "I-I saw them both in the ow-wlery." she said as quickly as she could through her stutter. She would be late to class for sure.

"Great, thanks." he smiled as Andy stuffed the last of her things in her bag and nodded.

"I-I better go." she stuttered before running off down a set of stairs. The hallways had suddenly gotten full of students rushing to their classes. The bell rang just as she wrenched open the History of Magic classroom door. The room was still half empty. Looks like she got saved.

"Please take a seat." the ghost standing at the front of the class said. Andy avoided peoples eyes as she rushed to an empty seat in the back of the room.

Students at that moment started piling in and once everyone took a seat Professor Binns started off the class by explaining in very monotonous tones, what they would be learning this year.

The next few classes luckily didn't require a wand for the day. But it was only a matter of time before they started actually doing stuff. As she walked to the Great Hall for lunch she wondered if her sister had gotten the letter yet. Hopefully she did because the sooner she finds it the better.

She walked through the double doors into the Great Hall and quickly spotted a wide empty spot at the Gryffindor table. She put a few things on a plate and decided to start on potions homework. Leave it to professor Slughorn to give them homework on the first day. He was always waiting to see who would be his next star student. She had to write an eight to ten paragraph essay about the correct function of the draught of peace.

As she held her quill against the parchment, she found herself distracted by her worries. What if her wand wasn't at home? What if she had left it in the train? _Mental gasp. _What if her sister didn't know how to send it to her? Not most muggles knew how to send things by owl. What if she tried to send it by regular muggle mail? Would it reach Hogwarts? If it did who would it reach first? She wouldn't want the headmaster to know that she left her wand at home. That would be embarrassing!

She rubbed her temples frustratedly. This is all her fault. Why couldn't she have been more responsible with her things?

"Are you alright?" Andy jumped. She looked up to see who had spoken to her. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You just seem tense."

It was James. Andy nodded shyly, "I-I'm alright, j-just a little w-worried ab-about something." He was looking at her sympathetically.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked kindly sitting down beside her. And shook her head immediately. He'd laugh at her for sure, it would be better if she just kept it to herself.

"You sure?" he pressed. Andy nodded. "Alright." he gave in uncertainly. "Anyways," he continued as he began rummaging through his bag. "I came to give you this." held up what Andy recognised as her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. "You left it behind, I guess you were kind of in a hurry."

Andy nodded as he handed her the book. "Thanks." she said simply, as she stuffed it in her bag. She looked at her lap, she wasn't used to talking to people. And now here she was, in the middle of an awkward silence with James Potter. One of the most popular guys at Hogwarts.

"You know, I never caught your name." he finally said.

"It's Andy." she said, still not looking at him. She could feel her cheeks warming up.

"Andy?" he said disbelievingly. Was it really _that_ weird a name for a girl?

"Short for Alexandra." she explained, stopping herself from rolling her eyes.

"Cool." he nodded, "I'm James." he smiled kindly at her. Andy smiled back, unsure of what else to do.

"You know, you should come and sit with me and my friends. We're just down there." he said, pointing down the table where three boys sat. Andy recognised two of them Sirius Black, James Potter's fraternal twin, and Remus Lupin, the bookworm of the three and also one of the house prefect. But she couldn't remember the name of the chubby one sitting in between them.

Andy didn't know what to say. She wouldn't really be comfortable hanging out with a group of boys, or the most popular guys in school more like. But she didn't know how to refuse. Every sentence she came up with in her head sounded rude.

"I-I don't know. I-I wu-wouldn't w-wu-want to b-bother you guys." she said a little too shakily.

"Oh you wouldn't be bothering us." he said offhandedly. "Besides, I'm not giving you much choice." he smirked.

"W-what?"

Before Andy knew it he was dragging her by the arm behind him in the direction of where his friends were at.

"Guys!" he shouted to catch their attention. Once they all turned to look at him their eyes turned to the mysterious girl that was with him.

"Wow James, school's just started. Given up on Evans so soon." remarked Sirius Black. "Blackmail I'm assuming?" he whispered loudly to Andy for all his friends to hear.

Andy's eyes widened, is that what it looked like. She opened her mouth to say something but James beat her to it.

"No! Blackmail is never necessary if you've got a face like this." he said mocking a stupid pose.

Sirius turned to Andy, "Did he force you to come with him?" he smirked. Andy blushed even more.

"I-I-"

"You don't have to answer that." James cut in as the three boys laughed loudly. "Anyways, this is Andy!" he introduced her with a gesture of his hands. "Andy Remus," Remus lifted his hand, "Peter,"_Oh yeah that was his name,_ he gave a small smile "and Sirius." Sirius winked at her. Her eyes widened in surprise. And she blushed at her feet.

"Do I know you?" Sirius burst, staring at her strangely as if trying to figure something out.

"Well I'm assuming if you didn't know her name before today then no you don't know her." Remus said amusedly drinking pumpkin juice from a goblet.

"Oh very funny." Sirius gave him a sarcastic smile. "I mean I've seen that face before." he stared at her blushing face for a second. Then his eyes suddenly opened wide in realization.

"Nevermind." he said, taking a spoonful of cereal. Andy stared at her feet. Had Sirius remembered?

James rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Andy heard him mumble. "Andy why don't you take a seat?" he gestured his hands towards the bench. Andy wasn't sure she wanted to, it was almost time for their next class and she hadn't gotten any homework done. Not like she would have been able to concentrate anyways. And that was when she remembered.

Where on earth could her wand be? She was a disgrace to wizard-kind. She hated having to worry about things. Her distress must've shown in her face because Remus asked, "Are you alright?". Andy looked up, "Y-yeah, I-I just-"

"Andy!?" Andy whirled around to a curious-faced red head. "What are you doing with _these _morons." Andy didn't know what to say, she couldn't really say that she was forced in front of James, wouldn't that be rude? Luckily she was saved from answering her question.

"Don't be jealous Evans." James sneered, flinging an arm around Andy's shoulders. Her cheeks were now as red as Lily's hair.

"Jealous of what? You? Don't bother." she laughed, but she looked far from amused.

"Oh, what are you playing at? You know you love me." James joked.

"Believe what you want." Lily held her head high. "Anyways," she checked her watch, "It's almost time for class, want to come Andy?"

"Sure." she answered right away. She did not want to be late to another class. She turned to James, "Th-thanks again for the b-book." She sounded so stupid when she talked.

"No problem." he smiled as Lily lead her out of the hall.

Lily had walked Andy Defense Against the Dark Arts. Never before had she been walked to class. Did this mean Lily was her friend. Her stomach churned at the thought. She couldn't have friends, she couldn't get too close to anyone. They'd just hurt her like..._they _did.

_A/N: Hmm…. I wonder who_**they **_are._


	6. This Is Gonna Suck

_A/N: I am so sorry. I thought I fixed it but apparently not. I don't know what I did, I probably pressed the wrong button. But it's fixed now._

Andy opened her Herbology textbook to the page professor Sprout indicated. She checked her watch. It was nearly time for the bell to ring. It was about time, Andy thought. The girls she was sitting with were starting to get really annoying. They kept talking about the dreamy Hufflepuff boys that interrupted Dumbledore's speech the other night.

Apparently, what happened was that they had thrown an Ever-Bashing Boomerang down the hall at Filch, hitting him across the face. They hid in a room and jinxed the doorknob knowing that the boomerang would come back to them and Filch would run after it. It went right through the door, and when Filch tried to open it, the doorknob bit him. He was furious.

Andy heard them tell all this to the girls she was sitting with. Only, they included a lot more unnecessary and most likely false details. Their names were Gregor and Harvey. They've been tormenting Filch since first year. It's their specialty.

"He's so cute isn't he?" a Hufflepuff girl with short brown hair asked Andy. She had been staring at Harvey who was getting in trouble by professor Sprout at the moment. Andy saw her walk away with a comic book, leaving behind an angry Harvey. She turned back to the brown-haired girl who was staring at him with a dazed look on her face.

Just then the bell rang.

"Homework! I want a five paragraph essay about the many uses of Self-Eating Shrubs!" Professor Sprout yelled as the class began to leave.

Well, at least writing an essay didn't require a wand, Andy thought miserably to herself as she put away her things. It had been three days since she sent her sister that letter and still no news. She should probably just go to professor McGonagall or professor Dumbledore. They'd somehow help her. Or maybe they would just suspend her from school for being stupid. Andy felt nauseous at the thought.

Why do I have to be so stupid? She wondered as she entered the castle through the giant oak doors. It was pure luck that she hadn't needed her wand yet in any of her classes. But it was only a matter of time before she did. She had Professor McGonagall next.

As soon as she entered the Great Hall she was greeted by Lily and her friends.

This was gonna suck.

A/N: Ok, I know this chapter was really short but it was mostly just to introduce the next chapter. Anyways, lets cut to the chiz. I want to know what you guys think so far. Is it good? is it bad? Did I make any mistakes? Am I doing anything wrong?

Please review and let me know!


	7. Forgot?

"Bye Andy." said Lily cheerfully. Andy waved goodbye grudgingly, Lily and all the other Gryffindor seventh years had a free period right now. She turned around to face professor McGonagall's classroom door. She would give anything to not have McGonagall today.

Her stomach flipped a few times as she slowly walked through the door and made her way to a seat without looking at anyone.

She felt a chill travel down her spine. She hated classrooms, they were always so cold and dark. She looked around at the loud students who were making things worse. Her temples began to throb.

"Settle down now." said the professor from her desk. Immediately the room fell silent. "Well as you all know, this year you will be taking your O.W.L's." she began.

The students around Andy grumbled in annoyance, she on the other hand sighed with relief, of course this was what professor McGonagall would talk about on her first class. Now all Andy had to do was hope it would take up all of class time. It usually did in most of her other classes. She didn't care how tired she was of hearing the darn acronym.

As long as she didn't need her wand she was fine.

"Yes yes, I know you've already been informed of the importances of doing well on your O. and what not." she said understandingly. " I bring up the subject only to let you know that I do not accept students into N.E.W.T classes unless they have achieved _Exceeds Expectations _or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level."

"Now," she pressed on, "This term you will be learning…"

Andy watched nervously as all the spells professor McGonagall named wrote themselves on the chalkboard behind her.

_Please take long. Please take long. _she kept repeating in her mind.

Once professor had finished she walked us through what each of them did. There were only a few of them but they all sounded very difficult from the sound of professor McGonagall's very intellectually stimulating, hr to understand, alien-like words.

"I'd say we have a fair amount of time left." professor checked the clock at the back of the classroom. "Out with your wands everyone."

Andy's eyes widened as noise erupted throughout the classroom. What should she do? It seemed that all that time she spent worrying about this moment wasn't enough.

"Quietly!" shouted professor McGonagall. The noise level immediately dropped as they all dug in their bags for their wands.

Maybe she could make it through the rest of class without having to take hers out. She might have a good chance at it since she sat in the back therefore making it harder for McGonagall to see her. Unless she walked around the class. She rubbed her temples. Why must things be so complicated?

"Are you alright there Miss Derby?" Andy jumped at professor McGonagall's voice. And slowly nodded in response.

"Are you certain?" she asked.

Andy thought for a few seconds and slowly shook her head. It was time to spit it out.

"I-I-I f-forgot my wu-wand" She felt like she was going to hurl. She couldn't do it. It was too hard.

"Forgot?" professor raised a brow.

Andy nodded and looked around, everyone was staring at her. She immediately turned her head to face her lap to hide her flushed cheeks.

"A-at" she paused, this was to hard. She chanced a glance at the professor. But she wasn't at the front of the room anymore she was directly in front of her. Andy gulped down the lump that formed in her throat. She panicked, "I-in my dorm." She said the words so quick she hadn't realised what she said. But when the words sunk in her eyes widened in fear. She had just straight out lied- and to professor McGonagall! This was not good. Hopefully she bought it.

Professor McGonagall sighed, "Very well." she said walking over to her desk. "Back to work!" she barked at the class. The sniggers had ceased.

Andy felt stupid, sitting there doing nothing. What was professor McGonagall doing? Probably filling out expulsion papers or something. If those even exist.

"Take this pass." she said after a few minutes, lifting a small piece of paper that she had in her hand.

Andy slowly stood up, grabbed her bag and made her way to the front of the class. She took the slip from the professor's hand confusedly. "Whe-where am I g-g-going?" she choked out.

"Well to your dorm of course." professor said incredulously raising her eyebrows. Andy looked down at the paper in her hand in fear. She shakily smiled at professor and made her way to the door.

"Oh and Miss Derby?" Andy turned around just as she was about to open the door. "Please come back. I'm a very experienced professor and I know all the little tricks and schemes students use to get out of class."

Andy nodded uneasily.

_At least she believed it,_ she thought miserably.

_A/N: Hello everyone. Another chapter finished. I feel like I didn't get professor McGonagall's sternness down but I tried. Sorry if it sucked. I'm not very happy with this one but I've got pretty exciting things planned. Please read on, Favorite, Comment, Follow._

_I Disclaim Harry Potter._


	8. I'm Sorry

Andy wondered worriedly what she was going to do as she stormed down the corridor and towards the marble staircase.

Professor McGonagall said to go back to class after getting her wand, which wasn't even where she said it was.

What was she going to do!? How would she explain to professor McGonagall that she had lied. What was wrong with her life this year? Leaving her wand at home, getting bullied by third years, people talking to her, running into-

Andy crashed her head with something hard and fell to the floor.

She felt like crying at the throbbing pain. Who did she run into this time, she thought miserably. Shrieks of laughter surrounded her.

"Best look where you're going next time dumbass!" a sixth year girl shouted.

Andy held back tears as she rubbed her forehead and looked up to see who she had run into.

Solid, stone wall.

Andy felt humiliated. She hid her face in her hands as a tear slid down her cheek. All around her people got back to what they were doing, some still chatting away about how ridiculous she looked.

"Are you alright?" a deep, kind voice asked. She looked up to see James smiling down at her. He was accompanied by none other than his fraternal twin, Sirius Black.

She nodded and winced at a sudden sharp, pain at her forehead.

"Nasty bruise you've got there." said Sirius. "You should probably go to the Hospital Wing."

She shook her violently head. "I-I-I'm fine."

Honestly, every time she spoke she regretted it. She really hated the amount of pity people looked at her with.

"Are you sure?" asked James. "I'm kind of busy at the moment, but Sirius would be more than happy to take you." He shot an evil smile at Sirius who glared in return.

"I-I'm sure." she said, quickly getting to her feet. "I sh-should get going."

"Why? Are you in a hurry or something?" James asked curiously.

"No, I reckon she just doesn't like us." Sirius sneered? Andy's eyes widened in shock, it wasn't that at all. She really was in a hurry- well, kind of. She was not looking forward to the long walk back to professor McGonagall's room.

"-or worse," said James in mock dejection. "She hates us!"

"The mere presence of us must disgust her!"

Andy didn't know what to say. She just stood there wide-eyed, repeatedly shaking her head.

She didn't want them to think she didn't like them. She was struggling to fight back tears that were beginning to form in her eyes.

"Hey," said James softly , "don't cry we were only joking."

Andy tried, but a tear had already escaped. She felt as it slowly slid down her cheek.

She felt so stupid. Of course she knew they were joking. It was so dumb of her to take it so seriously. She didn't want to seem stupid to them.

"N-no it wa-wasn't that!" She said quickly, "i-it's just that it hu-hurts." She lied. They stared at her with stupid faces for a moment. She was kind of afraid that neither of them got it.

"So then let Sirius take you to the hospital wing!"

Yup, they got it.

Sirius glared at James.

She shook her head again. "W-what can they do for me th-there?" She countered.

"I don't know, make it stop hurting, disappear." Sirius answered casually. "It's your choice really. If you'd like to walk around looking as though you let some guy suck on your forehead, go on ahead." He said with fake cheerfulness.

Andy's eyes widened once more. She hoped that that wasn't what it really looked like. Was it even possible to get a hickey on one's forehead? Hopefully not. Imagine what people would say about her.

James and Sirius amusedly watched all the different face funny expressions she was making.

"So then it's settled!" James shouted. "Sirius will take you to the hospital wing and I'll be on my way to...er…. do stuff!" He shoved Sirius towards her a little and then ran off down the corridor.

_What was that about?_ Andy thought.

"Git." Andy heard Sirius mutter under his breathe. She looked at him thoughtfully. Did he not like her?

She began to say, "I-I understand i-if you-"

"Don't want to take you?" he finished the sentence. He shook his head, "It's not like that." he said. After a long pause Sirius looked at her and said, "Look, I told James."

Andy was puzzled, what did he tell James?

Sirius leaned on the wall behind him, "You know," he pressed on, "about what happened on the train." His bangs covered his face as he stared down at his feet.

And then Andy understood. Her cheeks went red, of course that was what he meant. How had she not picked up on that.

There was another pause.

"And well," Sirius sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "he's not gonna leave me alone until I …apologize so…"

"I-it's fine, you really d-don't have to-"

"Yeah I do." he cut her off. "It was rude of me and I have to admit I do feel kind of...bad. I was just mad because my girlfriend-" he paused for a second, "anyways, I took my anger out on you and it wasn't fair."

"But it wu-was m-my fault for staring-"

"Nonsense!" he stood up straight, "That wasn't even a good enough reason for me to yell at you. Besides," he smirked, "who wouldn't want to stare at this?" He placed his hand under his chin and then stared off in the distance in a pose.

It was so ridiculous that Andy couldn't resist the burning temptation to laugh. He stopped posing and then smiled. "But anyways," he put his hands in his pockets, "I'm sorry." He said seriously.

Andy nodded, "It's okay."

At that moment the bell rang, catching Andy by surprise. Looks like she wouldn't be going back to professor McGonagall after all she realized with relief.

"Hey look there's the bell." said Sirius looking at the ceiling and then back down at Andy, "So would you like me to accompany you to your next class or should we just dich." he smiled evilly.

Andy's eyes widened.

Was he serious?

A/N: Review. Favorite. Follow. :)


	9. Swarm Of Bees

_Disclaimer: I do not own the AWESOMENESS that is Harry Potter._

"Come on, let's have some fun." he said, grabbing her hand and leading her through the crowd of students that had just filled the hallway.

"W-where are w-we go-going?" she asked bewilderedly.

"First stop, hospital wing." he shouted over his shoulder. Andy's gasp was luckily cut off as he sharply pulled her around a corner.

"Excuse us!" he shouted obnoxiously at a large group of girls blocking the hallway. When they ignored him he shoved his way through. Andy tried to keep her eyes down as she was yanked in, but fleetingly caught an extremely angry pair of eyes and curiously looked up again to take a better look. In the single moment that she had, she gazed at the girls expression, and by the looks of the frown and narrowed eyes, this girls was obviously furious.

Andy didn't really have time to think about it as she was wrenched further down the hall, away from the group of girls. So instead she concentrated on trying not to trip over her feet at the pace Sirius was taking. As soon as they made it to the hospital wing, she couldn't help but fall to the floor.

"Are you alright!" A great note of astonishment in his voice.

She nodded, leaning against the wall. "Tired" she panted.

"Oh! She speaks!" he sighed, "You scared me for a second there, thought you had fainted." he chuckled.

He stood there for a fews seconds, "Shall we go in?" he smiled, beckoning towards the door. Andy didn't process what he had said until his hand was on the doorknob.

"No!" she shouted, regretting it instantly as Sirius gave her an odd look. "I-I already told you I-I'm okay."

"Yeah, well tell that to your hickey." he mockingly pointed at her forehead. Andy had been defeated. He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. All the while Andy managed to keep her eyes down.

She tried to ignore the fact that he was smirking as he opened the door for her.

"What's this?" the nurse, madam Pomfrey, asked as soon as the door gently slammed behind them. She held a potion in one hand and a teaspoon in the other. "Shouldn't you two be in class?"

As soon as madam Pomfrey was distracted filling the teaspoon with the potion Sirius whispered, "Pretend to be sick!" in her ear, making chills run down her spine.

He then straightened up and said,"Abby here-"

"Andy" she was surprised he didn't even know her name.

"_-Andy _here," he corrected instantly, "well, she sort of ran into a wall-"

"Ran into a wall?" Madam Pomfrey blurted disbelievingly as she spooned the potion into a pale boys mouth.

Andy felt her face burn and stared down at her feet embarrassedly. It sounded more ridiculous out loud than it did in her head.

"Yes," Sirius continued an edge of annoyance in his voice. "and she hit her head."

She sealed the bottle and placed it on a shelf before finally saying, "Well then, lets take a look. Please have a seat, Miss?"

"Derby."

Andy unwillingy walked to one of the empty beds, avoiding the pale boy's stare, and sat down, and in her attempt of looking sick, leaned against the wall beside her and stared blankly.

"Now let me see dear." said madam Pomfrey suddenly appearing in front of her. She tilted Andy's head back and studied the bruise on her forehead. Andy was surprised when she found herself wincing as she barely touched it.

"Ah, I know just what will do the trick." She walked over to the shelf and brought back a small purple bottle that was corked shut, and a handkerchief.

"W-what's that?" she asked a little afraid.

"Something that will help." she said, uncorking it with a light tap of her wand, dropped a little on the handkerchief, and brought it up to Andy's forehead but she jumped back before it could touch her. "W-w-will it hurt?" now she was really scared.

"Oh, just a little sting." madam Pomfrey said soothingly, "Don't worry dear, I know what I'm doing."

Andy felt something sink in her stomach. Madam Pomfrey had taken it the wrong way. She probably thinks she's a rude person now. Andy's eyes filled with hot tears but she didn't let them fall. She didn't want to be there, she wanted to be in class where she was supposed to be, but she had to be strong.

"Oh, quit being such a baby, what matters is that it'll make the bruise go away." She jumped, not having realised when Sirius had sat beside her on the bed. She turned to look at him, his expression didn't show his annoyance but his voice had.

She tightly shut her eyes, still holding back her tears. "Okay." she sighed. Madam Pomfrey carefully dabbed her forehead. It felt like a swarm of bees all jabbing her with their stingers all at once. Andy winced, but it was obscured by her tightly shut eyes. It hurt so bad, she was surprised she still wasn't crying.

"There, all done." As she opened her eyes she saw madam Pomfrey sealing the bottle with the cork and turned to look at Sirius. He seemed to be holding back a grin.

"You can both head back to class now." she said once she placed the bottle back on the shelf. Andy instantly stood up. "And if you get any headaches Miss. Derby come and see me." she called after her as Sirius stood and led her out the door.

"Thank you." Sirius shouted before shutting the door behind them. He turned around and casually asked, "Does it hurt?"

Andy brought her hand up to her forehead and gently pressed down, surprised that it didn't sting or anything. She shook her head in answer to Sirius' question. "Th-thanks for bringing me." she said.

"You know," he said matter-of-factly, "Normally I'd say 'no problem' but it was a bit of a hassle dragging you over here…. and getting you to sit still… so, you're welcome."

"I did s-sit still!" She denied, a little angrily.

"Yeah, yeah" he said indifferently, grabbing Andy behind the shoulders and pushing the opposite way of the direction they came from.

"W-w-where are w-we going now?" she asked annoyed. "W-we already-"

"We only went there as an excuse to not be in class."

At these words Andy felt a surge of anger deep down inside. "So you m-made me do that for nothing!" She slightly shouted.

"Of course not!" he countered. "That hickey you gave yourself was horrid-looking." Andy didn't know what to say to that. 

A/N: I feel like I got madam Pomfrey's character all wrong.


	10. Confession Time

_A/N: Well, here it is, the tenth chapter. Please review to let me know if you liked it. And also, you might want to review if you want to see what happens next. So sorry I'm doing this to you, but I'm dying to know what you think. _

_Thanks for having to patience to read this!_

The room was empty; no desks, shelves, portraits,or anything or anyone. The bricked stone walls were neatly built circularly. If it weren't brightly lit from the wide platform encircled by small pillars, the dark shade of gray would have set off a depressing mood.

Andy immediately sped to the wall opposite of the enormous terrace and slid to the floor. She hid her eyes behind her hands, careful not to have even the slightest glimpse at the wide opening or the view it gave of the black lake. "What, don't tell me you're afraid of heights?" Andy heard Sirius say with the faintest hint of exasperation. She kept her head down and in her hands, ignoring Sirius' question.

She hadn't always been afraid. Just after the one plane ride to her sister's house. And that's plenty good of a reason because for one thing she had just turned eleven and for another, her parents sent her on that plane all by herself. The memory of being on that aircraft for two hours, surrounded by strangers, still frightened her. She felt herself begin to shake.

"What are you so afraid of?" Sirius' voice was closer now. Andy jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She still didn't answer him, thinking about the meaning behind his question. The things she's never told anyone. The things she has gone through, the feelings she's felt. The closest person to her is her sister, and that's saying something because her sister doesn't talk to her at all. She blames Andy for things that had happened in their past.

Andy tries to think of it as for the better. She convinced herself after so many years that she doesn't need to talk about it. What's done is done. But that doesn't stop the fact that her past still bothers her. She's scarred for life, and these scars… would never heal.

She felt Sirius remove his hand from her shoulder, breaking her train of thought. She heard him mutter something about "an odd Gryffindor."

"Get up." he commanded, his voice now above her. She shook her head. He sighed loudly and impatiently. A few seconds later she felt his arms slide beneath her as he lifted her up and held her against his chest.

Andy shut her eyes tighter and pressed her hands against her face harder. She knew exactly what he was going to do but asked the question anyway, "Wu-wu-wu-what a-a-are you doing?" she said with more difficulty than usual. She got more anxious with every step she felt him take.

"Open your eyes." he ordered. She stubbornly kept them shut.

"There's nothing to be afraid of." he said in a much softer voice. When she shuddered in response he sighed once more. "Look, I can take you through those very long stairs and hallways again and look for an empty classroom- risking getting caught by a teacher and leading us to an unwanted detention- just so that you'll be happy," -he paused for a moment to take a deep breath - "or, you can look through the big window and save us the trouble."

Andy considered each option carefully. If she went with the first one she would be saved from being forced to face one of her fears. As much as she liked that idea, she knew Sirius was right about the risk of getting a detention. Apart from that, Sirius was as annoyed as it is, she didn't want to force him to take her to another room just to make her happy. It would be rude of her.

If she took the second option, all she had to do was open her eyes, although she'd be unhappy and scared out of her wits. And would most likely have an entire vomiting episode.

This was a tough decision for her to make. She didn't to be rude and have Sirius risk a detention for her, but she definitely didn't want to vomit out of fear either. If she had to choose which one was worse it would be… the first one. She absolutely hated being rude, as dumb as that sounds.

Sirius hadn't spoken. He was waiting patiently for her answer. She peeked through her fingers at him, cautiously avoiding the frightening scenery that was visible.

"F-f-fine." her lower lip quivered as she said it. He nodded approvingly and set her down on her feet. She felt her stomach swirl when her feet touched the ground and had an uneasy feeling before she removed her hands from her face.

The first thing her eyes landed on was the forest. Her eyes widened in horror; they were higher up than she thought. She could see above the forest's trees- which happen to be extremely high. Just the thought was nauseating.

She quickly flicked her eyes in a different direction, not wanting to think about it anymore. But to her utmost chagrin, the next thing her eyes landed on was the black lake. Suddenly the tree tops didn't seem as frightening because from this distance the lake seemed no bigger than a pond.

"There," Sirius sounded satisfied, "Now that wasn't that-"

Something dropped in her stomach. She couldn't handle much more. She turned her head to look at her feet. That still didn't seem to make much of a difference, the stone floor looked so far away. Her vision began to blur and there was a strange ringing in her ears.

"Are you alright?"

She suddenly felt herself sway forward and threw her hands in front of her. She hadn't known why she expected that to help but it did. She was leaning heavily against the edge of the pillar things surrounding the terrace. Everything began to spin.

She could hear a muffled voice in the distance but couldn't make out the words. Everything went blank.

"Hello?"

Andy was confused, she didn't know where she was or what was happening. All she saw was darkness, nothing else. "Hello?" someone asked again. And though Andy looked around for the owner of the voice, she saw nothing.

"Abby!?" the voice was more panicked now. She didn't understand. Who in the world was Abby? There was a sudden stinging pain on her left cheek. She would have fallen to the ground in pain but she realised that she had already been on the ground.

"Abby that's not funny, open your eyes." The voice was clearer now.

She felt the cold stone beneath her body. There was another stinging pain, this time with a loud, _Smack_!

She winced and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sirius Black's pale face directly above her. His eyes gazing worriedly into hers.

"What the _hell_ was that?"

"What?" his words had taken her by surprise. Both because the was a good amount of acid in his tone and also, she didn't know what he was talking about.

She watched as he stood up angrily and began pacing back and forth. All the worry in his eyes had been replaced with frustration. He began to mumble to himself. As Andy sat up, she caught the words, "cowardly" and "strange."

Taking in the brightly lit stoned walls and the giant opening that was the terrace, she then remembered what had happened. She slowly slid back against the circular wall beside the door and resumed the position she had taken before.

Sirius' mumbling stopped, but she still didn't look up.

"Would you like me to take you to the hospital wing?" he asked politely. He sounded like he was right beside her now.

Andy shook her head in response. Unless madam Pomfrey had some sort of Fear-Obliterating potion there was nothing she could do for her.

Sirius sighed, then stayed silent for a few seconds. Andy thought she should say something. She felt that staying silent was the rude thing to do. But he beat her to it.

"So, were you thinking about answering my question from earlier?" Andy could still make out the tiniest hint of fury in his voice. She peeked at him through her fingers to stare confusedly. She took in his intent features and tried to remember a specific question he had asked. He waited for her to say something, impatiently drumming his fingers on his lap.

And then andy remembered. The one question that had triggered that awful memory of the plain ride. The thought made her head spin and she decided she did not want to talk about it. Especially to someone she barely knew, despite how rude she felt.

Realising that he was still waiting, she shook her head in response.

"But why not!" he burst, making Andy jolt against the wall. "Yeah, I-I'm sorry- I'm sorry." He apologized, closing his eyes in frustration. "I just don't understand you- I don't understand why it's bothering me so much- I don't understand girls!" He threw his head back against the wall to stare at the ceiling.

Andy was puzzled at his last statement. Andy's problems had little to do with the fact that she was a girl. Unless he was implying that all girls are cowards.

"Why did she do it?" he muttered to himself.

"W-who?" Andy spoke for the first time. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her in surprise. He looked thoughtful for a second.

"Nevermind," he shook his head as though to shake away a thought. "I don't know what got into me- I've just been really," -he seemed to struggle for words, holding his hands out in from him, his fingers in strained positions that made it seem like he was strangling something. He dropped them to his lap, dropping his head against the wall again. "You wouldn't understand." he sighed.

Andy felt stupid. She finally understood what he was mourning about. She remembered back when they arrived at the school; those annoying girls that sat on either side of her at the Gryffindor table. The entire _conversation _they had!

She suddenly opened her mouth to say something comforting, but thought better of it. He wouldn't be so pleased that a stranger knew something so personal about him.

"We should go." he said suddenly standing up. "The bell should ring any minute now." His face was expressionless, and his tone was dead.

Even though he had warned her, she leaped with surprise anyway when her thoughts the loud, chiming school bell rang. She scrambled to her feet as well. "Let's go." she said in a small voice, carefully avoiding the terrace.

She ran through the door that he held open.

As they walked down the long stairs- much slower than the first time- Andy noticed that Sirius had relaxed a little beside her. She didn't say anything, afraid she might say the wrong thing. She tried to come with something acceptable enough, but nothing crossed her mind.

Luckily he beat her to it, "So, you feel like telling me where you were going so urgently that you ran into a wall?" he sounded amused now. Andy tried not to look surprised, it was as though the little episode he had had upstairs never happened.

And then she realised what he had asked, "Um...w-w-well I w-was going to G-gryffindor tower."

"What for?"

Andy knew she would end up telling him she left her wand at home and dreaded the moment. She considered just telling him it wasn't any of his business, but she knew that would be the rude thing to do and she would never really be willing to. Plus, it would make them even since she knew about him getting dumped and that wasn't any of _her _business.

"I f-forgot my wand." Andy bowed her head embarrassedly.

"In your dorm?" he laughed, but he stopped when Andy shook her head, not looking at him. "Not in your dorm?" he asked confusedly.

Andy nodded, now facing the wall to her right. She could feel her cheeks heating up.

"Then where?"

Andy tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. "H-home." she said so quietly it was almost a whisper. She was afraid to look at his reaction.

"Home?" he repeated disbelievingly. "Then why were you going to your dorm?" his voice shook as though he were fighting back laughter.

Andy tried not to be surprised, she expected this kind of reaction. Any _normal_ witch or wizard would know how stupid a mistake like that is. This proves that Andy is no normal witch.

"W-where else wu-would I go?" her voice shrank.

"Aww, come on! Are you seriously crying?" he asked, frustrated again.

Andy didn't say anything, they finally reached the bottom of the twirling stairs and started down a short corridor. When they reached the end, they faced another set of stairs. Andy sighed in exhaustion; Sirius gave no reaction. Andy assumed he was used to taking this route.

"Mistakes happen you know?" he broke the silence, seeming to struggle to keep a calm voice. "You shouldn't beat yourself up for it."

She still didn't say anything. He was already on the verge of yelling, she didn't want to say anything that would trigger that.

"Anyways," he carried on. "What professor did you have?"

His question wasn't very clear, but Andy understood. "McGonagall." she murmured.

He laughed. Andy finally looked up at him, shocked. This guy was seriously bipolar!

"Damn!" he continued laughing. They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned. "And did you tell her you left your wand in your dorm?"

Andy nodded a bit angrily.

His laughter sounded more and more like bark as it grew. "Aren't you in a load of trouble? Just wait until she catches up with you!"

"I know." she frowned at the ground. "I'm s-so stupid." Her hands balled into fists at her sides. She felt so angry with herself.

Sirius stopped laughing, "Don't beat yourself up about it," he said rather cheerily. He threw an arm over her shoulders and squeezed her against his side, he flung his free hand across the air and though to put aside her worry. "It's like I said, mistakes happen. And anyways what's one detention going to do?"

"D-d-d-detention?" Andy stuttered maddeningly.

Sirius looked down at her shocked. They reached the end of the corridor and reached another set of stairs. When would they end? Andy didn't remember there being this many. She tried to not trudge down them very hard, she couldn't let her anger get the best of her.

"Are you cold?" he snapped.

Andy shook her head surprisingly.

"Then why are you _stuttering_?" Andy was very taken aback, no one at Hogwarts had ever questioned her stutter. Well, that was mostly because she hardly spoke, but still. What gave this _Sirius Black _the liberty to curse at her, force her to ditch class, laugh at her foolishness, get frustrated with her cowardness, and question her stutter? Andy was on the verge of losing it. She may not know much about him, but she was definitely starting to dislike him.

She hadn't always stuttered. She hadn't always shut everyone out. Andy remembered back when she was about six or seven, when she had never heard of Hogwarts. Those were the good days. When her parents still loved her for not being a freak. When she was happy and spirited. Those were the days that her family was together.

But all that was taken away from her when she got that blasted Hogwarts letter.

She knew that if she spoke she would stutter like crazy trying to sustain the anger anger that was bubbling up inside her.

"What do you mean you don't know- What? Were you born stuttering?!"

And that was it. She couldn't take it anymore. She stopped walking in the middle of the hallway the were in. "You do N-NOT know w-w-what I've b-been through!" She was surprised at herself, she didn't remember the last time she had been angered this much. "N-nobody does! W-why sh-should I have to tell you?! W-who are you t-to qu-question me?" She knew she was being extremely rude, but she didn't care. It felt good to give him a piece of her mind.

When she turned to look at him the expression on his face took her completely by surprise. His eyes and mouth were twitching at the corners as if he was trying not to let them smile. His lips were tightly pressed together as though he was trying not to burst into laughter.

"W-what's so f-funny?" Andy snapped.

"Nothing," his voice was shaky as he tried to regain his composure, "it's just that I never noticed how- you're so-" he seemed to be at a loss for words, his face fell. He was no longer struggling to keep it straight. "You're very frustrating you know?"

"W-what?" When was he going to stop surprising her?

She was certain now that he was bipolar. His moods and expressions changed so rapidly. She was tired of it. She wanted to get away from him. The longer she was around him the more angry she became.

"I'm l-l-leaving." she stuttered pathetically but seriously. "I d-don't have time for th-this." Without looking at him she began to run.

"Well alright then!" Sirius shouted after her, sounding confused. "If you bump into James tell him you had a nice time, okay?"

Andy ignored him and continued running. Running as fast as she could down, turning corners, opening doors, trudging down stairs. She didn't know where she was going, but anywhere was better than with _him. _

Finally getting tired, she settled herself down in a corner of a deserted corridor, at the moment not caring if someone saw her.


	11. You've Grown On Me

This year was turning out to be one of the worst for Andy. She had always known that if she risked giving any of her fellow students a chance, she would regret it. Her life was much better when she was a loner. When she wouldn't speak unless she was spoken to and avoid looking people in the eye. Adults being the only exception..._at times_.

She could hear her mothers serious, lecturing tone, 'You must always look adults in the eye when conversing, that shows them respect.' Andy felt that familiar anger that bubbled inside her at the mere thought of her mother. That woman brought nightmares upon Andy.

But no matter. She was long gone. Andy would never have to hear her voice or see her face ever again.

"-Andy?"

Andy had been so deep in thought, that the shrill voice startled her.

"That's your name right..._Andy_?" The voice spoke again.

Without so much as glancing at the girl, Andy nodded and then flipped the page of the book she had been pretending to reading since the beginning of lunch.

"Right, so, Andy, may I have a word with you please."

The venomous tone the girl had used made Andy's head snap up to look at her. Her face twisted into confusion, not recognising her.

"Don't recognize me? No matter." Then, without warning, the girl grabbed Andy's arm and yanked her up and around the bookshelves. As they sped past the librarian, Madam Pince, Andy tried to pay no attention to her glaring eyes. She really hated it when people glared at her. It made her feel uncomfortable. Luckily, it was a rare sort of thing.

As the girl pulled Andy out through the giant oak doors, she absent-mindedly stared at her gorgeous locks of wavy brown hair and watched as they swayed back and forth down her back.

Suddenly, the girl twirled around- breaking Andy's transe- and pushed her against a wall Andy hadn't noticed was there.

"Still don't know who I am?" the girl asked angrily.

Andy shook her head.

"Well let me refresh your memory." She irritatedly placed her hand on one of her round hips. "I was sitting next to you in the Great Hall when we arrived last month."

Andy thought back, it took her about a minute to recall the two annoying girls that had sat on either side of her. She looked up at the girl- not exactly in the eyes- comprehendingly. Though, a question arose in her mind. Which one had this one been of the two?

The girl nodded exaggeratedly slow, "Now you remember, don't you? Gosh, it didn't take _me_ that long to remember _you_ when I saw running down the hall with _Sirius_."

Andy processed that for a bit. This girl- the way she said Sirius' name- it was almost like she was jealous. And then it hit her, this girl was obviously the one bragging about breaking up with Sirius to her friend.

"Don't try to deny it. I know you met my eyes. I remember."

Bam! Something else hit Andy with a jolt to her stomach. This girl was also the girl that had been glaring at her when Sirius shoved his way through that group of people in the hall. Back when he was taking her to the Hospital Wing.

"Aren't going to say anything, it's driving me crazy." She said, taking hold of Andy's shoulders and shaking her against the wall.

Andy twisted uncomfortably in fear. As much as she wanted to say something she couldn't find the words. So instead she busied herself with trying to fight back tears.

"Oh whatever!" the girl threw her against the wall once more. "The point is, I could tell you think you're better than me. In the Great Hall, when you laughed at me, I didn't think about it much, until I saw you with him. But when I saw the way you looked at me- expressionless- I knew," She took a small step back with one of her hips popped out, her hand placed dramatically on top of it like before. There was a smug look on her face. Andy tried to prepare herself for the accusation she was expecting. And finally, with a theatrical hair flip, the girl said,"You think you're better than me."

With a sinking feeling in her gut, Andy felt a mixture of anger, frustration, and surprisingly, a tad of amusement. It was completely foolish and idiotic of her to draw such a wild conclusion. Andy would have never figured that one out. Teenaged girls these days have entirely gone off their rockers.

"Well let me tell you something, _Andy. _you're not better than me-" '_I Know that.' _Andy responded in her mind "-and you're crazy for thinking that-" _As are you. _"I can't imagine what kinds of things you two have been up to-" Something in Andy snapped. "-but leave my Siri alone."

"Shut up!" Andy shouted angrily, although a small part of her was pleased that she hadn't stammered. It kind of made her sound a little impressive. "Y-you're driving me crazy-" the impressiveness was gone "- A-all of you! W-wu-why don't you all just l-leave me alone!"

"You listen here-"

"N-n-no, _y-you _listen!" Although Andy was completely surprised at herself for going to such extremes, it didn't stop her from shoving a finger at the annoying girls chest. "Y-y-you don't kn-know anything about me. Since the be-be-beginning of this t-term, m-my life has just co-completely flipped over! And I d-don't need p-p-people like you to- to-"

"People like me?" The girl asked angrily. "What's that supposed to mean? No matter, I could hardly understand you with all that stuttering." All the anger that had so suddenly arose in Andy had started to ease away slowly, and become replaced with despair at the same pace. She looked down and sadly stared at her feet.

Out of nowhere, the girl's hand was suddenly tightly clutching Andy's chin. She forced it to tilt up so that they were at eye level. "It's almost time for class so let me make it clear that I don't care if your life has been a tragedy, I just want you to stay away from Sirius. He's _mine._"

"W-wow, you really are crazy." Andy accidentally said aloud. And with that, the girl glared furiously into her eyes and suddenly, with a tight hold on her chin, threw a punch with such force at Andy's left eye, that her chin slipped from the girl's gorilla grip and hit the back of her head against the wall behind her.

Once she was on the ground, her hand shot immediately toward her left eye.

"One last thing," Andy jumped, never having noticed when the girl had bent down to speak in her ear. "If I so much as catch you talking to him- or even looking at him! There will be consequences." The girl stood up. "Oh and before I forget! Don't tell anyone about this, am I clear?"

"Y-yes." Andy whimpered, still clutching her eye.

And without another word, the girl stalked off.

Andy kept her head down as she slowly walked to her next class. She didn't want anyone to see her eye and ask questions. She wouldn't know what to say.

She paused in front of Professor McGonagall's door to fix her bangs so they would cover her eye completely. She drew in a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob, letting the air out as she quickly walked in.

"Good evening Miss Derby."

Andy slightly jumped at the greeting, but, remembering her mother's lecturing tone, looked into Professor McGonagall's eyes and responded, "G-good evening P-Prof-fessor."

And then she quickly looked away and walked to her desk.

The next few minutes were the awkwardest Andy had ever experienced. She spent them looking anywhere but at Professor McGonagall. When she decided to settle her head in her arms, she accidentally pressed her eye too hard.

She immediately pulled her head back and winced in pain.

"Are you okay?" the person on her left asked. Andy instantly fixed her bangs and nodded, smiling politely at the boy. Once he turned, Andy relaxed and returned her focus to the throbbing pain of her bruised eye.

"Settle down now." Professor McGonagall finally said when the bell had rung. The students immediately stopped doing what they were doing. "Now then, last week we left off with vanishing spells, as you all know. Today we will be continuing that lesson, for those of you who might've missed something." She eyed Andy. "So if you will all take out your wands."

Andy's stomach flipped. The entire _incident _with Black's girlfriend had made her forget about the dread she had been feeling earlier.

"As a reminder, the spell is 'Evanesco.' Make sure to emphasise the second 'e.'"

Andy was in the middle of a panic attack when the classroom door had suddenly burst open. Like the rest of the class, and Professor McGonagall, Andy's head snapped in the direction of it.

"I've got a note for you Professor McGonagall!" shouted none other than Sirius Black, holding up a small scroll with his right hand.

"Quite your barking Mr Black."

"Sorry Professor." he said, handing her the miniature-sized scroll, though he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were searching around the class.

Andy kept her head down, hiding from his gaze, although she was sure he had found her by now.

There was a short pause as McGonagall read the note. "Very well." she finally said, handing the note back to Black. "Miss Derby-" Andy jumped when she heard her name "- collect your things, you are excuse for the remainder of the day."

Andy fixed her bangs as she reluctantly gathered her things and walked stood. She watched her feet as she walked, fully aware of all the staring eyes.

"Practice your vanishing spell tonight for homework, Miss Derby." Andy glanced at her and nodded, walking through the door that Black was now holding open. Andy ignored the whispering that had erupted from the students behind her.

"Thanks, Professor." Black smilingly called behind him.

As much as Andy was glad he saved from a probable detention, she was still angry with him for his behavior yesterday. She didn't look at him when he turned around, she knew what was next. He would stand there and gloat his radiant head off for saving her arse.

"I wasn't too late was I? You looked like you were going to panic. And a bit emo-ish to be honest."

Andy stayed silent.

"Look, I know your mad at me, you should be, I was being a jerk yesterday-"

"How'd you g-get the note?" She interrupted him, hardly stuttering.

"Let's just say James's got a talent for copying handwriting." he winked and shot her a sideways smile.

"You got James in on this?"

"He offered." he defended. His face fell, "I didn't really get why you took off like that yesterday so I told him about it. Look, Andy-" she looked him in the eyes now, he remembered her name "-I'm really sorry I was being a jerk to you…" he bit his lip, it seemed like he was struggling to say something, "My girlfriend broke up with me and I've been all moody about it… I really liked her."

"I'm s-sorry to hear that." Andy said truthfully. This boy she had come to hate was experiencing a heartbreak.

Andy had never had a boyfriend so she didn't know how it felt. She had always thought those girls in her dormitory were being dramatic about it. But now that she's seen the affect it has on boys as well, it's sort of changed her perspective.

Though she felt bad for him, it wasn't exactly enough to decrease _all_ her anger. He had still crossed the line when he questioned her stutter.

"What happened to your eye?!" he suddenly exclaimed, instantly stepping forward and pushing her hair back to examine it.

"I f-fell down the s-st-stairs." she quickly said, pushing him away and fixing her bangs again. She hadn't realized when they fell back. She forgot all about her eye.

"You fell down the stairs and just so happened to fall on your eye?"

"It c-can happen. Be-be-besides, wu-why should I answer _y-your_ questions?" Sirius Black with his many stupid questions.

"I know what a person looks like after they fall down stairs and you don't look like that. So why don't you tell me who hit you so I could beat the shit out of them."

"I-it doesn't matter-"

"Of course it matters-"

"W-why do you c-care?"

He stayed silent for a long moment. "I don't know." he said thoughtfully, "I guess you've just… grown on me."

**A/N: Heeeelloooooo. Just wanted to say that the next chapter will be in Sirius' point of view and also, you won't be getting it unless I get five reviews for this chapter. Sorry I'm doing this to you, but I just really want to know what you guys have to say.**

**Thanks for reading, :)**

**P.S: I've already started on chapter 12.**

***evil smiles***


	12. Guilt

**A/N: Just a reminder, this chapters Sirius' P.O.C!**

**-I know I made it short, but that's only because I didn't get the five reviews I was waiting for for so long. **

**-But thanks anyways to those of you who did review. It means a lot. :)**

My main priority for the past fews days has been to get Andy to tell me the name of the bastard that hit her. The only problem is every time I catch up with her she runs away. She hasn't even shown up in the Great Hall …. I don't understand why she's so determined not to rat the guy out. What's so important about him? I don't care if they happen to be the closest of friends or something, if I cross paths with the moron he's going down.

"Hey Sirius." said a familiar, shrill voice that puts my teeth on edge.

"What do you want?" I said coldly, without looking at her.

"Geez, just wanted to say hi." I ignored the hurt in her voice. "And… well," her timid tone caught my attention, that was unlike her. "I wanted to talk to you… alone."

I felt a surge of anger, "You did talk to me, remember?" I kept my voice icy, "You've told me all I need to know. I don't want anything to do with you." I picked up my things, "Let's go James."

James also picked up his things, glaring at her the entire time. "See you around." He told her, before we started walking away.

Suddenly her long fingers wrapped around my wrist. "Come on Siri, I have a reason for breaking up with you. Things were rough at home during the summer, I didn't think I could handle a relationship." I stayed silent, trying not to focus on how clear the pain in her voice had gotten. "I just, really need someone to talk to right now." Now her voice was shaky, like she was…

I don't know what came over me. I turned around, twirled my hand around so that now my hand was around her wrist, and pulled her towards me. "Don't cry, Tabby." I gently held her head with my right hand. I turned to James, who looked shocked. _I'll be right back, _I mouthed. He shook his head in disapproval, but I ignored him. "Come on." I said to Tabby, most of my anger had disappeared, but not quite. I lead her into the the nearest empty classroom, hugging her all the way. "Now then," I said soothingly. "What's wrong?"

"It's my grandfather, he went to St Mungos recently, but the healers said there was nothing they could do for him." She broke into tears. "I wanted to be with him, but I had to come here. I feel so terrible, I-I feel so selfish! He should be more important than scho-"

"Just don't think about it." I said softly. She stayed silent but trembled in my arms. I've always sucked at comforting girls, especially when they cry. That day when Andy cried telling me about how she left her wand at home, it bothered me so much that something so petty could make her tear up. And when I tried to tell her the worst that could happen was that she was given a detention, she stuttered like mad. My attempts at ignoring it had disintegrated, I had to ask to fill the frustrated feeling I had. I didn't know what else to do, and then she got even more upset.

"I'm so sorry Siri."

I probably wouldn't have acted the way I did if I wasn't already annoyed with girls in general. But James insisted that I make up for that day in the train. Even though he knew I had just had my first heart break. Tabby wasn't like any other girl I've dated, she was different.

"It's fine. I'm over it." I said softly.

"But I'm not! Siri, I-I want you back!" she exclaimed. "I-I th-thought I wouldn't be able t-to handle a relationship, but that was s-stupid of me- I- I-"

I knew I should've been stronger. But it's obvious to me that I still have feelings for her. And the way she stuttered triggered some sort of urge to pull her closer to me. That stutter of hers was starting to grow on me.

Wait a minute.

Something strange went off in my mind. It felt like some sort of light bulb turned on and for whatever reason, I was suddenly aware of what I was doing.

I took a step back, tearing away my lips from her's.

Tabby looked surprised. "Siri, what-"

"I don't know- I should go!" I said exasperatedly. I ran out the door without thinking.

As soon as I was out in the corridor, I knew exactly where I would go: my terrace. My thoughts were racing as I ran. Thoughts about Tabby, my feelings for her, the way she stuttered, and so much more. I just couldn't make sense of it.

That had been the first time I had ever heard her stutter. Why had it been so comforting, so familiar? And most importantly, if I had been yearning to feel her lips for so badly for so long, why did it feel so wrong all of a sudden?

Is it strange that I feel guilt rather than regret?


	13. Adrenaline

After spending her Saturday afternoon in the library to catch up on her wonderful book, Andy was heading to Gryffindor Tower when suddenly, "Oi! _Andy_!"

Andy's stomach dropped, she recognised that shrill voice. Without turning around, she bolted. She wasn't in the mood for another black eye.

"It's you're fault!" The evil girl shrieked behind her.

Andy didn't know what she was being blamed for, but she was certain it had something to do with Black.

She didn't look at any of the people she passed. And the most any of them did was turn, look, and continue with their conversations.

After countless steps, as she ran, and turns at corners, Andy realized that she had no idea where she was. She looked around, not recognizing any of the portraits or suits of armour. She turned another sharp corner, nearly crashing into the wall.

_That was a close one. _she thought. She couldn't afford to be clumsy right now. One wrong move and she'd get beat to a pulp by the angry girl chasing her.

She began taking deep breaths as she started down the next corridor, her legs were getting heavier with every step and she noticed she started slowing down.

A sudden red smark flew past her shoulder. Now the girl was using magic, how was that fair?

"Why don't you just kill yourself?" The girl sounded a lot closer than before. And although this made Andy panic, she couldn't help but let the question process in her mind.

Andy had considered taking her life several times. But she had already decided that it was a cowards choice. And she was already cowardly enough. Just look at her, running from a bully that accused her of doing things that weren't her fault. She could easily defend herself, but she was too afraid. How much longer was Andy going to put up with this?

Her steps slowed to a stop as she thought about it. She felt hot tears form in her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists and began to vibrate dangerously.

"Sirius hates me, and it's all your fault." the girl was shouting angrily as she reached Andy.

"No it's not!" Andy shouted, swinging her right fist with all of her strength until it landed flat on the girl's nose. Andy ignored the shriek of pain and without giving it a second thought, turned back around and ran. But this time, and most strangely, she ran with _excitement_. Her heart was racing and she was filled with a strange energy. Was this adrenaline? She had never felt like this before. What a rush!

Embracing the strange energy, Andy sped up, her arms swishing at her sides, her legs rushing past each other numerous times every second.

Then, so suddenly, interrupting all of Andy's thoughts, she ran into someone she hadn't noticed. Her bag slammed to the floor, and so did the other person, but she had managed to stay on her feet. "S-sorry!" she exclaimed, burying her face in her hands.

"It's you!" a boy's voice shouted from across the floor.

Andy looked up surprised to see one of the marauders, the short one, fallen on the ground.

"I-I-I gotta go!" she said, shooting passed him and down the rest of the hall.

"Wait!" he shouted, "Wait! Sirius is looking for you!"

Andy pretended not to have heard that. She had more pressing matters at hand. The evil girl's friends must've found her by now and everyone'd probably be looking for her now. Not just Sirius Black.

She zoomed through more hallways, though with less energy than before.

In the midst of all the events that had happened so suddenly, Andy thought she saw a familiar tapestry zoom passed her. She immediately slowed down and panted her way back to get a better look.

She was right, it was the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. That meant this was the seventh floor, she had run a long way.

All of the energy that filled Andy so suddenly, left just as fast. She drew in deeps breaths as she slid to the floor, her back to the tapestry, staring at the blank wall across from her. She was exhausted, she wasn't sure she could keep this up any longer.

"She ran this way!" Andy could hear faintly, coming from a faraway hall. Her eyes closed tiredly, heart racing and stomach flipping. She had to find a place to hide fast. But where? Where could she run to that they wouldn't find her? If only there were a nice, quiet, secret place she knew.

I_f only. _she thought.

Footsteps were now audible, growing louder with every second. She opened her eyes, ready to face her doom, only to see something that had her questioning her sanity.

Across from her were a pair double doors, on the wall she could have sworn was once blank.

They were perfectly symmetrical, even to the smallest details of the ebony texture. Beautiful, thin vines trailed daisy-shaped flowers from the edges and corners of the doors, towards the center, ending in delicate loops.

Acting on impulse, Andy immediately got to her feet and stumbled her way to the peculiar doors.


	14. Fear, Hate, and Wonder

As Andy placed her hands on the door knobs, she discovered they were as peculiar as the doors themselves. They were two swirly trails of brass daisies that matched the ebony ones decorating the doors. With not enough time to continue admiring their beauty, she quickly twirled the one on the left and pulled it open, jumping a little when she ran through because the footsteps of the angry people around the corner were as loud as ever.

Once she closed the door behind her she slowly slid to the floor with her ear pressed against the door, finally feeling safe, but the feeling didn't last very long. As the footsteps seemed to have reached the hall, it dawned on her that a door as conspicuous as this one was surely going to catch the eyes of the others.

"Why does my life have to suck so much?" she thought. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest. She felt the endless tears sliding down her cheeks but did nothing to seize them. Her life was a nightmare, and it was all thanks to Sirius Black. If only she had just dealt with those annoying girls in the train, then she would have never given him a reason to shout at her and then apologize for it later and interfere with her life. Life would be normal. She wouldn't be getting bullied. She wouldn't have a black eye. She wouldn't be crouched down in tears waiting for a crowd of people to beat her to a pulp.

She wished it were possible to go back in time and change everything. But that was impossible. She thought of her mother, what she would say if she saw Andy like this. She would tell her behavior like this is unacceptable, she was tell her to quit her bawling and face the consequences of her actions. Andy shuddered, hearing her mother's voice clearly in her mind. She knew she had to be obedient, like her mother always said, so she wiped away her tears and looked up at the door. She couldn't hide behind it forever, or at least that would be the case if there had been a door.

Andy leaped to her feet and stared shockingly at the blank wall before her. She pressed her ear against it, the footsteps that were once loud and clear could no longer be heard.

Her head was spinning and it was becoming difficult for her to breathe. Each breath was taking her a great amount of effort. She fell on her knees and sunk her face in her hands. Would this nightmare ever end?

She had to find a way out of this, she didn't want to be stuck in this dark, lonely room forever. Though, when she looked up she found herself leaping back with shock. What she was seeing was the complete opposite of darkness and loneliness. It went against science and Andy liked it. She gazed and gazed until she grew impatient. She didn't understand it but she couldn't help herself.

In front of her lay bright green grass like she had never seen before, fields and hills covered in it. Flowers of every kind and of all colors bloomed beautifully in all places. Andy couldn't tell if there was a point in the distance where the meadow-like place ended, it just looked like it went on forever with the bright blue sky following above it all the way.

And with a final urge, Andy was happily sprinting through it. It was magical to have so many things that she loved in just one place. She loved flowers, and grass, and the bright colors of nature.

Everything that had just happened was way behind her. She knew she would face it all later, but she didn't let it bother her. She just continued her sprinting and let her thoughts wander elsewhere….


	15. Chapter 15 Daisies

**A/N: Please enjoy :)**

**Sirius' POV**

"... when she saw me she got up and kept running." Peter was telling James, Remus, and I about how he ran into Andy in the hallway. "And about a minute later that old girlfriend of yours-"

"Tabitha?" I said automatically.

"Does it matter what her name is?" James rolled his eyes.

"Of course it does." I shot. "We need to make it clear who was chasing Andy. I mean, I've had a lot of girlfriends, how would I know who the one old girlfriend Peter was talking about was?"

"Well despite your many old girlfriends, Tabitha was the first one that popped into your head wasn't she?"

"Well that's because she was the most recent one."

"And just because she's the most recent that makes her most likely to be running after Andy?"

I opened my mouth to argue but Remus cut in. "Enough bickering, you look like children." He turned to Peter. "You were saying?"

Peter blinked a few times realizing Remus had spoken to him. "Oh umm.. the girlfriend, she had a bloody nose and there were a few people with her."

"Do you think Andy… hit her?" James said, dumbfounded.

Andy couldn't have, I thought. She wasn't the type to do that sort of thing. I furrowed my eyebrows in disbelief, she would never. She's too.. diffident. "That doesn't sound right." I said.

The guys nodded in agreement.

"Lets look for her!" James insisted, standing up.

"Great idea." I got to my feet as well.

"You don't even know where she is." said Remus.

I lifted my mattress and James pulled out our map of Hogwarts from a small tear we had made to hide it inside. This map we created reveals every floor, tower, room, passageway, and most importantly, the exact location of everyone on the castle grounds. With this we could easily find Andy.

"That's why we have this." I held it out towards Remus.

James and I exchanged smirks, "Let's go." we said simultaneously.

**Andy POV**

When Andy opened her eyes the bright blue sky was the first thing she saw. She smiled to herself, remembering where she was. Though, she didn't remember falling asleep. Waking up to this was the most wonderful thing in the world. She sat up to marvel at the beautiful meadow surrounding her.

Andy wished she could stay here forever. Here, it was peaceful and away from all the nonsense that awaited her behind the daisy emblazoned door.

That Sirius Black and his big brown eyes, following her everywhere. Making her life miserable. Was he really looking for her like Peter had said. She didn't doubt it.

That creep wouldn't stop bugging about her black eye whenever he caught up to her. Andy plucked a daisy from the ground subconsciously. She stared at it's beautiful white petals as she wondered why he cared so much. He doesn't even know her, he could hardly remember her name yet insisted on being apart of her life.

No one had ever cared for Andy, not since she turned eleven. Her whole family thought she was a freak and shunned her away. So... why. Why does this bipolar, rude, hot-headed, meany care so much.

Maybe he didn't care. He was just looking for some sort of project since he doesn't have a girlfriend to keep him busy anymore. Andy tossed the daisy to the side, furious at the thought.

This had to end. She couldn't keep running from him. She'd have to confront him and tell him to his face to leave her alone.

She glanced to where the daisy had landed and leaped to her feet in surprise. Where the daisy she had tossed to the floor should have been was the daisy door from before, her way out.

Andy turned around and took in the beautiful meadow and bright blue sky. She didn't want to forget this place. She hopes to find it again in the near future.

It had truly helped her sort a few things out.

She turned around and marveled at the scenery one last time. Then she drew in a deep breath and let it out as she tugged open the daisy door and walked out into a dark, torch-lit hallway.

She didn't know where she was, this hallway was completely different than where the daisy door had first appeared. She began to walk in a random direction.


	16. Shirtless

Sirius POV

We could hardly see anything through the cloak in the torch-lit corridor. We had been searching for Andy for ages with no luck.

I rubbed my arms in attempt to prevent the chills running down my arms. "James, why didn't you remind me to put on a shirt?"

"Why didn't _you _remind me?" he shot, rubbing his arms as well.

We were both cold, but neither of us even considered going back to Gryffindor tower. We were determined to find her. But, so far all we've done is wander through a bunch of random corridors.

"Check the map again." I exclaimed.

We stopped walking as James opened the map, we both briefly searched it for her name.

""There!" James shouted in excitement, pointing at one particular dot with small words beside it.

"Not so loud." I scolded in a whisper, focusing on the name he was pointing at. "That's not it it says 'Alexandra.'"

"Her name _is_ Alexandra you nitwit."

"Since when?" I asked, feeling stupid.

"Dunno, why don't you ask her?" he laughed quietly. He looked at the map again, "She's on the floor above us, there should be a staircase nearby."

We walked down the corridor with more eagerness than before. We reached a stone staircase halfway through the hall and quickly made our way up it.

"Why didn't she tell me?" I said.

"Tell you what?"

"That Andy is just her nickname."

"Because she hates you." he smirked.

I stayed silent, considering this. I knew he was joking but given the fact that I've been a jerk to her countless times, it's possibly true. I knew I must make it up to her somehow, simply apologizing hadn't been enough.

Back to Andy

Andy reached the top of a staircase and came to a stop. There were three hallways. She wondered if she would ever find Gryffindor tower. Then she hesitated before deciding to continue forward.

There were footsteps is the distance, Andy stopped walking and held her breath. They started getting louder.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek and a huge thud.

Andy jolted back and fell to the floor, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Ouch! What was that!?" someone said. "Andy?" They then whispered.

She slowly looked up and saw Sirius on the floor a short distance away from her, shirtless. Beside him were two things: a pair of legs with no upper body, and Mrs. Norris running in circles.

Andy gasped, and Sirius quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, shushing her.

"James get up!" Sirius whispered to the pair of legs.

"Huh?" They said.

"We tripped over the stupid cat!" Sirius answered.

The legs scrambled around a bit and then they revealed their owner. James appeared, as he sat up. And happened to also be shirtless like Sirius. He glanced and the cat and then at Andy.

"Mrs. Norris, ! What's wrong!?" Someone shouted.

"The cloak!" said SIrius.

Andy saw James pick something silvery up from the ground as Sirius helped her stand up. Then she cringed as he suddenly, but gently pushed her against the wall. James through the silvery thing around the three of them just a few seconds before someone became visible in the hall.

"Mrs Norris!" Filch cried. He grabbed his cat and pet her lovingly. "Who hurt you, love?" He looked up and glared down the hall.

Andy felt her heart beat accelerate as he walked passed them slowly. Sirius and James were very still beside her, their bare torsos pushed against her. He stopped to look exactly where they were standing he took a step toward them and James and Sirius stopped one another from gasping by clasping a hand over each other's mouths.

There were another pair of footsteps stomping down the hall and filch went off chasing after them. Once he was out of view, James and Sirius started running, "Come on Andy, we'll explain when we get there!"

Andy ran behind them, feeling sick to her stomach.

Once they were safely inside Gryffindor tower, Andy forgot to catch her breath before she stammered, "W-what… w-was… that? How… did you... find... me? And… wu-where are your… clothes?" She passed in between her words to take deep breaths.

Sirius and James exchanged looks, taking notice that she hardly stuttered when she did this.


	17. Death

"It doesn't matter, I was- _we_ were worried is all," Sirius answered. "Now, tell us where you were."

There was a pause and then Andy said, "I-I don't really kn-know."

"What do you mean you don't know, you had to be somewhere!" James said.

My heart fluttered a little as I heard her speak. For some strange reason, I found myself intrigued by the way she took her time to say words that started with W's. She kept speaking but all I could pay attention to was the way her small voice formed her words.

Then all of a sudden I didn't hear it anymore. I blinked and became aware of her honey-brown eyes staring at me.

"Well, Peter told us that he ran into you earlier," James spoke. "He said how Crazy Tabs was chasing after you with a bloody nose." He went up close to her and brushed her hair out of her face, "You really had us worried."

All tension in her face disappeared and she looked into his eyes. There was a pounding in my chest, I thought I might explode. I ran a hand through my hair before looking away, expecting to hear the impact of their lips.

"But w-why d-do you care?" She demanded.

"Andy," James furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "You're our friend."

"You-you don't even kn-know me." She looked to the ground sadly. It infuriated me the way she was so delicate.

"How could you say that?" I said, the anger apparent in my voice. "We've known you since the beginning of this term." In my mind I counted that that was only about two months, but that's two months of this girl running around and driving me crazy. "My point is... we're friends, alright?" I said more calmly.

She looked up at me, her left eye was a light shade of purple now. But that did not matter at the moment because a tear had just streamed down her cheek. James and I held our breaths in surprise, there was no reason for her to cry.

"I-I-I'm sorry," she croaked, rubbing her eyes. "You-you d-don't u-u-und-derstand." She gasped. "I-I-I've j-just never ha-had a fr-friend before. I-I don't kn-know w-w-what to d-do. L-Lily said she w-was mu-my f-friend b-but I d-don't know. I-I d-didn't think— Sh-she said I-I w-w-would never— that I— "

"Alright, take a deep breath, Andy." I said with what I hoped was a soft voice. I walked up to her and placed my hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"What matters is that you have friends now." said James who had stepped to the side a bit. At his words, Andy closed in on the inch of space between us and rested her head on my bare chest. I was flabbergasted, I felt her hot tears run down my skin causing goosebumps to run all through my body. But I just held her tight and hoped she didn't notice them.

She had sobbed into my chest for what seemed like hours. I hadn't gotten all the answers I wanted, but I wasn't going to go on questioning her in this state. She eventually fell asleep. We couldn't take her into the girls dormitory, and we weren't going to just leave her in the common room, so we decided to bring her up to our room. And I am glad we did because then she would not have had a little outburst the next morning that revealed some important information.

It was super early, the sun had just barely come up. I woke up from a dream where someone was throwing rocks at me. And then rocks turned into pillows. I sat up holding a pillow above my head ready to pound James in the face with it, but he was fast asleep on the floor beside me.

"W-why did you b-bring me here!" Andy exclaimed from my bed, before throwing another pillow at me. I wasn't about to turn around and hit her with the pillow in my hand, so I decided to go ahead and slam it against James. All he did was turn his body over.

"W-w-why did you do that?" She said angrily.

"You ask too many questions." I said, laying back down. "Go back to sleep." But she continued talking.

"I c-can't sleep here! How-how do you s-s-suppose I get out w-wu-without anyone seeing mu-me? Rumors w-will spread a-a-a-and then she'll s-surely ha-hear ab-about it and then sh-she'll do m-more than give m-me a b-black eye. I-I h-have to g-g-get out of h-here!" I sat up once more, fully awake. I could not believe my ears. A girl had given her a black eye. I had been way off thinking it was a boyfriend of hers.

"Calm down Andy, I'll get you out of here no problem," I said, she slapped a hand over her mouth. "As long as you tell me who _she_ is." I continued.

"Forget it," she said from behind her hand. "I-I didn't s-say anything."

"Don't give me that," I said, starting to get mad. I took a deep breath and relaxed, not wanting to make her cry again. "Please Andy, please tell me." She looked at me sadly.

I thought she was going to give in and tell me, but she didn't. "I can't," was all she said. I didn't understand why she refused to tell me. There was no point. I felt like yelling at her until she told me the name of the culprit, but I knew that would not solve anything. So I stayed quiet.

"You talk too much," James grumbled.

"S-sorry," Andy choked.

"Don't worry Andy I didn't mean you," he sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Pretty hair," he smirked.

Andy's brown locks were extra wavy this morning; swirling around her face, and sticking up in different places. At once, her cheeks turned rosy-red. She looked away and started running her fingers through her hair. I smiled as I watched her, she was very… cute. An odd wave of a familiar feeling drifted through me, and for some reason I could see Tabby's blushing face in my mind's eye. I shook my head and came back to Earth, at the same time thinking Andy's blush is much better than Tabitha's in comparison. Again, I felt the strong pull of gravity and a question formed in my mind.

"Andy… were you planning on telling us why Tabitha was chasing you?"

She gave up on trying to tame her hair and looked down at me where I sat on the floor. She had a huge frown on her face and her eyes were sparkling as though she were going to cry. Then she shrugged in answer of my question.

I felt a small fire flick to life in my stomach, I wanted to scream at her despite her damn tears. I wanted to throw something at her or pull her hair, anything that would make her give me a real answer. I looked at her big brown eyes and the way they weren't looking at me; for some reason I yearned for their attention.

Then her small voice spoke, "I honestly d-don't know, sh-she was angry for some r-reason."

_Could it possibly be something to do with me? _I wondered. ..._Nah, what did I do?_

"Erm…" she spoke again, "Would y-you g-g-guys m-mind putting on sh-sh-shirts." She was bright red.

James and I exchanged smirks, "Why? Do you not like our bodies?" James joked.

"Oh, I thought we looked quite lovely," I said, throwing on a fake pout.

"No! No! I-it's just that— y-you guys l-look—"

"Stop joking and put on some clothes!" exclaimed Remus from him bed on the other side of the room.

"Yeash… yes _mother,_" I said, laughing before walking over to my trunk, tossing one of my shirts to James, and throwing one on myself.

"Thank you," Andy murmured. I smiled to myself wondering how in the world someone could ever be like Andy. She has that stuttering thing going on, she's always anxious, she's extremely shy, quiet, diffident, elegant, gorgeous…

"Are you feeling alright Padfoot," said James. "You're staring into space like a lunatic."

I ran a hand through my hair, "Yeah, fine," I said casually. In reality I felt like some sort of spell had been shot at me. I looked at Andy, whose focus was on me with an expression of curiosity.

* * *

Andy's POV:

All Andy wanted was to lay down in her own bed and stay there for the rest of the day. However, Sirius and James pleaded that she join them outside. She eventually said yes but she wanted to shower before anything. Afterwards she headed to the common room to meet up with them but only found Sirius there. He said something about James remembering he had homework to do or something. Then Sirius led the way outside. They sat in the shade of an oak tree on the other side of the black lake. Andy felt like she was going to vomit after crossing the cobblestone bridge. She had to bite down on her tongue until the nauseous feeling went away.

She didn't really like being alone with Sirius, it made her nervous. She looked into his dark brown eyes and suddenly felt comfort for some odd reason. After a few seconds she realized they were gazing into one another's eyes without saying a word. She looked away embarrassedly.

"Do you feel weird around me, Andy?" Her heart thumped, he'd said her name right again.

"W-w-why do you say th-that?" His question took her by surprise. Sure, she'd prefer to be alone in her room than to be here with him, but she didn't want him to know that.

"I dunno, you just seem uncomfortable," he said. He looked away, Andy thought she saw a hint of red spreading throughout his face. "Look, I've been meaning to get to know you better. We kind of got off on the wrong foot when we first met and after all this time I still don't know much about you."

"Oh," she said awkwardly. "W-what's there t-to kn-know?"

"Tell me something about you that no one could figure just by looking at you."

Andy wondered if this was an average conversation any pair of friends would have. "W-well, my f-f-favorite fl-flowers are d-d-daisies," she said as she plucked on from the grass. "Did you kn-know they represent inn-nn-nocence?" Andy asked as she gazed at the flower's pearl-white petals.

"Then I guess that makes you a daisy," Sirius said with a kind smile. "You're very innocent for your age."

She couldn't tell if he was trying to compliment her or insult her, so she stayed silent.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

Andy shook her head in response. She avoided his eyes, feeling embarrassed at her lack of communication skills. She didn't doubt that he was suffering like crazy right now, having to endure her stupidity. Her eyes landed on someone familiar in the distance. It was Tabitha on the other side of the lake, looking right at her. "I sh-should g-go," she muttered as she quickly stood.

"What for?" he nearly shouted, sounding a little angry.

She walked away from him as quickly as she could. She held her breath as she walked across the bridge. She felt a hand grasp her own. "Andy, what's wrong?" Sirius said, his voice vibrating with the effort to sound calm.

She ignored his question, searching for a way to walk passed her without being seen. She groaned with despair. It was inevitable, she was going to get her ass kicked again. "Ss-she's g-g-oing to kill mu-me." Andy whispered, with tears in her eyes. "I-I h-have t-t-t-to g-go." She tugged her hand away and turned around about to make a run for it when she collided with someone.

Tabitha shrieked as a doll sporting black hair and brown eyes flew out of her and, in what seemed like slow motion, pelted towards the Black Lake's surface.

"I-I-I am so s-s-sorry."

"You killed him. You are such a clumsy idiot," she screamed through tears. "You killed my Sirius. I'll kill you!"

"Tabitha, what are you doing!" the life-sized Sirius shouted.

Andy fearfully took a step back, "I-I didn't see y-you. I'm s-sor-" before she could finish her sentence, Tabitha ran towards her and pushed her with such might that Andy felt herself falling. Falling, just as the tiny replica of Sirius had… into the Black Lake.

_A/N: Okay, I know I have not updated in years, but I was trying to make this chapter long. And it takes a lot for me to get inspired enough to write more. Maybe comment once in a while, okay?_


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